Jindal not a cajun crusader, must be joking, cher

Some clown from Washington, D.C. who calls himself a political writer traveled to Oklahoma City last week to cover the Southern Republican Leadership Conference and ended up insulting Louisiana Cajuns in a way they have never been insulted.

Never mind all those Boudreaux and Thibodeaux stories that rival Texas Aggie jokes in their ability to make their subjects look a little dumb. Shoot, the Cajuns laugh at those themselves and some Cajun humorists like Justin Wilson, Bud Fletcher, Ralph Begnaud and Dave Petitjean were more than a little successful at making Cajuns laugh at themselves.

One Cajun joke making the rounds right now has Boudreaux deciding to launch a nutria farm because “Dem womens use dat nutriagena on dere faces and ereybody puts dem nutria sweet in dey coffee and iced tea. But dat ain’t where de money is. De real money is wit dat Defensive Department what builds all dem nutria powered submarines.”

That one is courtesy of my associate pastor Tommy Bergeron who tells some of the best stories.

Here is my all-time favorite, also courtesy of Tommy Bergeron:

Boudreaux, him go huntin’ and kill hisself a loon. On de way home he stop over to Thibodeaux’s house an’ call him out, sayin’ “Thibodeaux, look what I done shot me.”

So Boudreaux did dat but he start feeling guilty and de nex’ day he do hisself down to Wildlife an’ Fisheries an’ say to de man at de desk, “My name is Boudreaux an’ I’m here to turn myself in, Cher.”

“Turn yourself in for what?” asked de agent in charge.

“Cher, me, I shoot a loon.”

“What?!!! You shot a loon?!!”

“I know, Cher, it’s a dangered bird but I did not know dat until Thibodeaux tol’ me after I shoot it. But I feel real bad about dat and I’m here to take my punishments.”

De agent, he lean back in his swiveled chair and he tink awhile on it. Finally, he say, “Well, you didn’t know and you are trying to do the right thing and accept the consequences. Tell you what, we’re gonna give you a pass this time. Go on home and forget about it but don’t do it again.”

“Oh, Cher, tank you so much fo’ dat. I ‘preciate it. I won’t never shoot no more loons.”

“No problem,” say de agent. “By the way, what’d you do with it?”

“Oh, Cher, me, I dress it, cook it and eat it.”

“You ate a loon, really? What’d it taste like?”

Boudreaux, he stroke the whiskers on his chin and he tinks a bit an’ he finely say, “Oh, Cher, I don’ know me. I guess a cross tween a bald eagle and a whooping crane.”

My butchered dialect notwithstanding, is there anyone out there who believes for a nanosecond that Bobby Jindal could ever tell a Cajun joke, let alone pass himself off as Cajun?

Well, apparently, from the story he wrote, one Ryan Lovelace (there’s probably a joke in that name, but we won’t go there), believes Jindal is a Cajun.

Lovelace is described as a campaign reporter for the Washington Examiner, an online newspaper and a weekly magazine that is a sister publication to the conservative opinion magazine The Weekly Standard and the San Francisco Examiner newspaper.

The headline could have called Jindal anything else and it would have been more accurate than Cajun. Even governor would have been more appropriate, as far-fetched as that title has become. I mean, even as big a stretch as political leader would have been a little closer to the truth, though not by much. About the only description that would have been further off the mark than Cajun would be something like, oh, say…Republican presidential nomination contender.

Describing Jindal as a Cajun is about as accurate as calling him a sportsman and that Christmas card depicting the entire Jindal clan decked out in full cammo pretty much laid sportsman to rest. CHRISTMAS CARD

Cajun crusader? Sorry, but that’s just way over the top and reader Gregory DuCote of Baton Rouge just couldn’t let Lovelace’s faux pas slide by so easily. DuCote, justifiably indignant, fired off the following note to Lovelace:

Mr. Lovelace:

I just finished reading your article about Bobby Jindal, variously referred to here in Louisiana as Booby, Mr. Jingles, etc. and his recent visit and speaking engagement in the great state of Oklahoma.

With all due respect sir, you owe a serious apology to all Louisianians who would consider themselves Acadian, i.e. of descent form those brave men and women forced out of Nova Scotia several hundred years ago, commonly referred to as Cajuns. Your reference to Bobby Jindal as a Cajun crusader evinces either a significant lack of understanding of “Cajunism,” a very poor choice of words while wanting to try and be cute and relate to Louisiana, or a really bad joke.